Re Smuelders, I would think that is pretty good, did he play in all the games that were scheulded for the Netherlands?If the Pilots are to be successful this season he will have to play a big part.I think Reveno was supposed to be in Poland for that tournament

Also of note... he stroked 4-5 three pointers in one game and was 6-15 from downtown overall. Not too bad for a big guy - he clearly has some range. But he shot pretty poorly from the line - 8-18. That's not good at all. I'm pretty sure that's not what he usually shoots from the line, but still... you never like to see that.

Also, he averaged 1.6 blocks a game, with three blocks in two games and two in another. Not bad! Losing Jones we will definitely miss shot blocking, but it looks like Smeulders has some potential to get some swats. He also had at least one steal in all games and averaged 1.4 per game.

Together, those stats show me that he is active on defense and has quick hands... always a good sign. But he also got into foul trouble in a few games, so that's something to look out for as well.

Anyway, overall I would say that this is good news and that I think we can expect him to be a solid contributor for the Pilots next year.

The tournament is over now... congrats to Montenegro (really?) on winning. The Netherlands finished 14th overall out of 18 teams. Of course, that is out of 18 teams in the 'B' division... Serbia won the 'A' division. So what that means is that Smeulders wasn't playing against the top competition. But still... he finished the tournament averaging 11.7 points and 7.2 boards a game. Also had decent assists (2.3), steals (1.5) and block (1.3) numbers. And he played 34 minutes a game. So I'm really glad that he got some good playing experience in... it's been a pretty long time since he actually PLAYED, you know?

There is a bit of bad news though... it looks like he didn't play in the final game against the Czechs. Not really sure why that is... I'm guessing it was for an injury, so hopefully it's not serious. We will be counting on him big time next year.